On The American Gun

Image Credit: Max Scheler, Border of Heringsdorf, Usedom, 1964

On the Heringsdorf Border, 1964

Barbed wire strung along the Oder-Neisse Line carries on right into the sea In ‘64 East Germany to one side and Poland to the other No good choices One side as poor as the other One side as occupied as the other One side as cruel as the other

We stood ankle deep in the Baltic Contemplating the sea and the exchange of tyrants At the Potsdam conference in ’45

As far as borders go The fence was slovenly and careless You could crawl under here and there You could swim out into the sea

Steal around it and cross easily to

The other side

But patrols caught no one crossing here Cause neither side was free.

I rarely write about my poems....

I believe the persons reading them have a right to interpret poems in individual ways. I certainly know what my poems mean to me but that does not mean that you should try to see it my way.  Everything I write is meant to be “seen” by the reader through their lens.  It’s not really about what I meant.  It’s about what it means to you.  I think it is quite wonderful to throw my words out into the world. I love that once they free of me, you might read them and perceive them in ways I cannot even fathom.  So, thank you for reading a few of my poems and interpreting them as you see fit.   

If you find yourself with questions, have feedback about a poem, or wish to offer a suggestion for a future poem this is my invitation please don’t be afraid to reach out.

Artist: Andrew Domachowski Source: thecuriousowl

Anna and the Dragon

At dinner Anna asked for a dragon Her mother harumphed a bit Her father spit out his soup Her brother giggled and gestured that she was crazy

“Dear little Damselfly … you know you could never ever handle a dragon,” Father placated “I’ll get you a puppy. Now be a good little girl and eat your soup.”

Anna sighed and sipped her soup, so very tired of being a good girl.

The moon woke her, She loved the moon She loved the night

But she especially loved the dragons that flew Their moon shadows soaring in her tower Anna danced with them twirling To melodious dragon calls

But not this night This night “Father’s little Damselfly” Who woke with purpose Set about ripping up her dresses

She was a good girl She knew how to braid and embroider So, the rope was long enough and strong enough To carry her out of the tower

Once on the dewy ground Anna followed the dragons home all through the night She met them as they landed Fearless in her desire The dragons measured her fierce gaze And welcomed her home.

-Skye

Source: shadechamber

The Raven

Great Auntie kept a raven under glass in her dusty living room full of curious things

Mother and I sipped tea there on Saturdays Mother and Auntie sipped and chatted While that long dead bird Stared at me with its glassy eye

I sipped seen not heard Under the gaze of this bird Wishing terribly for another cookie

The ladies gossiped and tutted Auntie even reached over and pinched my cheek “Such a good quiet girl”

The raven just stared at me Seen not heard Sealed in its glass

I imagined it soaring Under a blue mild sky Instead of being seen not heard At this Saturday tea

We had a lot in common That dead bird and me.

-Skye

Photograph Title: “Angel of Death” Sculpture of a Funeral Gondola, Venice 1951 Photographer: Paolo Monti

Gondola

May the angel go before you and clear the way

I will ride with you but only to San Michele

Gliding by Our favorite haunts The rainy doorway where we met Our favorite espresso The hat shop where you bought me that Fantastical hat

My memories, My loud weeping My love so still in your box

During our last gondola ride.

-Skye

Image Subject: Friedemann Vogel Ballet Dancer Photographer: Not known Source:Peepchic

Defying Gravity

Defying Gravity is possible Consider when you left me I stayed in perfect Balance In defiance Of the inescapable Magnitude Of Your

Receding

Just prior to crashing to the ground.

-Skye

Eternal

So lovely to stroll in the sun amongst the rambling stones draped in hydrangea the Victorians so loved their flowers

Hands held tight our chatter lively who knows what the long dead think of lovers

of desire

I pull you to a huddled assembly of marble decked in lichen beneath the primordial maple well rooted in the dead

I want this eternity the worn stone the opulent branches throwing cool shadows

but only with you two stones leaning in 100 years on.

         -Skye

“ I’ll find you in the morning sun” Billie Holiday / I’ll Be Seeing You.

St Mary’s, Reigate, Surrey.

Abandoned Honeymoon Suite

Time Transient Taste of deconstruction

The graffiti coats my tongue

The sky ogles the bare mattress   The broken mirror calls back to her Bare naked light

Somewhere in the rubble We are submerged In frothy fragrant water

Somewhere in the motes of dust.

-Skye

On Loving a Poet

A poet speaks Imprecisely

Leaves room between words

Your voice so exacting in your desire terrifies her

As if you would pin her meanings to the pages

Turning wonder Into dead butterflies

You love her but cannot fathom her language

You drown in it Reaching for her

Placid on the far shore She throws pages and pages

Written for you Into the wind

-Skye

Image Credit: Unknown though often attributed to Arthur Fellig (1889-1968) American Street Photographer.

Circus Comes to Another Small Town

The circus came along with its Tigers and tentpoles Elephants and elegant ponies Rolling right down main street

Excited whooping children followed

Wild free-range boys mostly (Where the girls free-range or otherwise were sadly, we will never know)

When the circus ceased its Creak and clatter Lurching to a stop

Those boys who ran alongside All the way from town Gathered before The fat lady’s trailer

Giggles crinkled their dusty faces Some pointed grubby fingers Some made faces puffing out their cheeks

Of all the wonders to behold When the circus comes to town

Those scruffy, wild, need a bath boys Ignore the acrobats, the orangutang, The clowns in make-up and everyday clothes

All of them Tumbling out of the trucks on the green just outside of town

To goggle and gape At Miss Ellie May Gump The fattest woman in world.

-Skye